The present invention relates to a bale-breaker for opening textile fibre bales and adapted for removing the textile material in a direction perpendicular to the bale layers.
As is known, the processing method for processing and spinning cotton fibres comprise a first cotton bale opening step and a second step in which cotton staples are removed from the compact bale laps.
This staple removing operation is carried out by suitable staple take up devices, or bale breakers which are usually provided with a take up carriage which is driven near the cotton bales for removing cotton therefrom.
However, since the bales have a different height, it is difficult to obtain, by removing cotton from the bale tops, a homogeneous fibre blend.
Moreover, the bales may have a comparatively great vertical height and must be properly supported in order to hold them in a stationary condition.
Accordingly, all of the apparatus which remove cotton from the tops of the bales, i.e. along a direction parallel to the layers of the bales, are rather complex construction-wise because of the requirements of evenly remove the cotton laps while properly supporting the bales in a vertical attitude.
Apparatus are also known which are designed for removing cotton from the front portion of the bale, which apparatus are usually arranged on a slanted panel so as to fall by gravity against the cotton removing reels, which are displaced with a parallel relationship to the bales.
This approach is for example disclosed in the DE 12 67 151 patent to Hergeth. In this apparatus, however, the pressure of the bales on the removing reels will affect the removal depth, depending on the bale weight.
Yet another drawback of the thus constructed apparatus is that a lot of labour is required to properly arrange the bales with respect to the apparatus.